UMass Men’s Lacrosse Battles Back For 9-8 Win At Delaware

Recap, photo courtesy of UMass

Minutemen trailed by four in third quarter, scored seven of game’s final nine goals for comeback win

NEWARK, Del. – Massachusetts men's lacrosse won for the sixth consecutive time with a fourth quarter comeback effort led by senior faceoff specialist Noah Rak (Norwich, Conn.) and sophomore midfielder Jeff Trainor (Billerica, Mass.) as the Minutemen downed Delaware, 9-8, on the road at Delaware Stadium on Friday evening. Rak went 14-of-18 on faceoffs with 11 groundballs and two goals on as many shots. Trainor scored his second collegiate hat trick with three goals, including two scored in the second half.
 
Buddy Carr (Exeter, N.H.) added three points on a goal and two assists while Chris Connolly (Glastonbury, Conn.) scored once and dished an assist. Shane Rinkus (Pembroke, Mass.) and Devin Spencer (Danville, Calif.) added a goal apiece while Isaac Paparo (Westport, Conn.) helped out on a tally.
 
Jackson Suboch (Toronto, Ontario) forced two Delaware turnovers and scooped up a pair of groundballs while Paparo had a caused turnover and three groundballs. Reserve goalkeeper Sean Sconone (East Islip, N.Y.), who rotated into the lineup in the 22nd minute of the game, closed out the game with 12 saves against only four goals allowed.
 
Massachusetts trailed by four after Will Hirschmann scored on a feed from Charlie Kitchen with seven minutes, 10 seconds to go in the third quarter.
 
However, Carr ignited the offense with his 25th goal of the year, before Trainor potted his second of the game as Massachusetts cut the deficit to a pair with 3:37 to go.
 
Both teams managed to score in the final 10 seconds of the franticly-paced frame as Delaware held a 7-5 advantage headed to the final 15 minutes of action.
 
Paparo forced Delaware into a turnover, scooped up the loose ball, raced up-field and fed the play to Spencer at the crease for Spencer's 13th tally of the year with seven seconds to go in the frame. The Blue Hens responded after the officials whistled UMass for a faceoff violation following the goal and Mark Bieda connected with less than one second to go.
 
Massachusetts pulled momentum back into its favor during the fourth quarter as the defense held Delaware scoreless into the final minute, the offense found rhythm and Rak continuously set the Minutemen up with possessions as he went 6-of-6 at the faceoff dot. Those combined efforts led the Minutemen to a four-goal run during the fourth, with one tally each by Connolly, Rak, Rinkus and Trainor.
 
Rak immediately cut the deficit to 7-6 when he won the first faceoff of the fourth to himself, scooped the groundball and fired in his second goal of the game only six seconds in. Rinkus followed Rak's lead 13 seconds later as Massachusetts pulled even with all but 19 seconds still to play in the fourth.
 
Connolly put Massachusetts in front for the first time all evening with his lone strike of the game, facilitated by Carr, at the 12:17 mark. Following Connolly's conversion, play settled into a scoreless, back-and-forth struggle into the final 90 seconds.
 
Trainor padded the lead to a pair with his hat trick-securing third tally of the night. On an official's restart following a timeout, Trainor split a Delaware double-team and raced unchecked to the cage where he caught Blue Hens goalie Matt DeLuca out of position.
 
Massachusetts (7-4 overall, 2-0 CAA) returns home to Garber Field for its next game, a Sat., April 14 contest with Towson (4-6, 1-1) at 1 p.m.